No Chance To Apologize
by ImmortalWinchesters
Summary: What if during a huge fight the person closest to you died? Sam Winchester was found, supposedly dead, after a fire. Dean is heartbroken and can't forgive himself for the things he last said to Sam. But the fire hadn't been natural. It was caused by a demon named Charlotte who holds a secret about Sam that is vital for Dean to figure out.
1. Prologue: Where it All got Burned

_I can't go on living this way_  
_But I can't go back the way I came_  
_Chained to this fear that I will never find_  
_A way to heal my soul_  
_And I will wander 'til the end of time_  
_Half alive without you_  
**- Evanescence, My Heart Is Broken**

**Prologue: Where it All got Burned**

Fights; they actually happen a lot.  
Most of the time these fights are natural. No one's perfect of course and fighting sometimes can't be helped.  
There's obviously lots of types of fights, but the one I need to talk to you about is one of the worst kinds. This fight has to happen with someone you deeply care about.  
It starts when you get into a silly disagreement, but it goes too far and the argument changes. Suddenly your yelling at the other person for things totally unrelated to the disagreement you just had. You're shouting about things they've done or that they do that you hate. Some of these things you're saying are not even true, but you feel the need to say them because you're so mad. The person your fighting with does the same to you.  
After the yelling is done, both your feelings are hurt and you know this argument will be remembered. You also think that you won't be able to get over this fight with each other. Most of the time, you do end up getting over it. It will take a while to forgive and forget about the fight, but it can happen.  
There's something important you should know: death can come easy.  
Death can happen at anytime on any day. You probably don't think about this as you get up in the morning but lots of things can kill you. You could walk outside and accidentally be hit by a vehicle. Your house could catch on fire or break down when your casually sitting in it. You may soon develop a fatal disease.  
You may think that's totally unrelated to the fight I was just talking about, but trust me; it needs to be considered.  
Imagine this: You're in the type of fight I was just talking about with the closest person in your life. You don't want to forgive that person too easily because your feelings are deeply hurt. After a while of not talking because of the fight you discover something: the person you fought with just died.  
Yes; died. Dead.  
Imagine the awful feelings you would have after you discovered this. The person died while you were fighting with them. The awful things you said would be the person's last memory of you. You deeply hurt them and can never apologize or do anything about it…  
That seems awful and depressing right? Well think about that the next time you're in a fight. Try to avoid fights because of that. Try to forgive because with this stupid, crappy world, you never know if the conversation your having with a loved one is your last.  
This especially goes for me. I'm always in life or death situations. But I never considered what I would do if my brother (the person closest to me) died after we got in a huge fight.  
That is, until it happened to me. It all started with some stupid bickering, then it got worse and suddenly we were having one of our worst fights ever. Half the things that came out of my mouth weren't true. Same goes for my brother, I'm sure. But that fact didn't mean the words didn't hurt… A lot.  
After the fight, I ran out of our motel room. I had to cool down and after hours I still couldn't. I ended up sleeping in the Impala.  
I woke up to the smell of smoke. I opened my eyes and saw a burned down motel room. Police were examining the burned down scene, firefighters were leaving as they finished putting out the fire. The ambulance was leaving as well, confirming that there was no body; It had been burned in the powerful fire.  
Do I even have to tell you that was our motel room?  
Or that my brother was locked in the room and burned?  
I want revenge. The fire couldn't be a coincidence or accident. In our gig, you didn't get those. My brother had been set on fire purposely.  
My name is Dean Winchester, and I'm dead inside.  
My brother Sam is dead and I can never say sorry to him.


	2. Chapter 1: The Fight Before the Fire

**Chapter 1: The Fight Before the Fire**  
_**Dean**_  
_**Backtracking to before Sam and Dean's fight**_.

Sam and I had just finished a case. There was a local who was found acting strange and was always the one to discover the recent deaths in the town. The local ended up being possessed by a demon. Unfortunately, we didn't save the local the demon was possessing. The demon was about to kill a young girl and we needed to stab him with the demon killing knife to save her.  
We had just arrived at a new town to check out what we thought had been another case. Nothing too out of the ordinary had happened though, and it turned out it wasn't a case. We arrived back at our motel room relieved there wasn't anything supernatural there but also sort of annoyed and mad there wasn't since we'd driven fourteen hours to get here.  
"I told you it wasn't a case Sam." I said for the second time. I_ had_ told him that it might not have been a case before we left here, but Sam insisted we check it out. Now that we discovered I was right, I needed to say "I told you so".  
"Okay Dean, I got it." Sam replied. "I thought it was signs of a vengeful spirit, sorry."  
I sighed because my brother was giving me "the eyes". "It's alright I guess. It's kind of good there wasn't anything, it's not like we _want_ there to be supernatural creatures everywhere."  
Sam smiled a bit. "Yeah."  
We were silent for a moment before Sam said, "Well, there was another weird occurrence I found on that internet that might be a case. Maybe I-"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed, cutting Sam off. "I thought I saw a possible case too and I say we go with that one."  
Sam frowned. "Since when did you think you saw a possible case?"  
"Well… I didn't find a possible case." I admitted. "But I'm sure I can find one if I try. When I do, I say we go with that."  
"What? But Dean, I think I have a possible case _now_! You're making no sense!" Sam exclaimed.  
"I think I should get to choose a case this time." I said, acting like that was a good argument. The true reason I was trying to choose the case was-  
"Are you just wanting to pick out the case because I chose this one and it turned out not to be something cause by a supernatural entity?" Sam asked.  
He guessed it.  
"Um..." I said.  
"Dean it was just a mistake!" Sam insisted. "We_ both_ make mistakes, and lots of them at that!"  
"Yeah, well I don't seem to make half as many as you do Sam! You always seem to be screwing up!" I blurted. After that I almost felt like covering my mouth. I hadn't meant it, but the words were already out there.  
"I'm sorry that I seem to make so many mistakes Dean! I sometimes get stuck in these situations and I…" He stopped, looking seriously sad.  
My frown grew because it seemed like Sam was regretting his mistakes and it was all my fault he was sad. I felt guilt well up inside of me because I hadn't meant to hurt my brother.  
"I didn't-" I started.  
Sam glared at me angrily. "Don't you dare tell me you didn't mean it! I've always guessed that you thought that I screw up everything. I knew it was coming out of your mouth someday."  
"What do you mean you knew it was coming out of my mouth someday?" I asked.  
"I know you've had this kind of hatred towards me after-" Sam started.  
I cut him off. "Wait! Hatred towards you? I've never had a hatred towards you!"  
"I can see it in your eyes sometimes Dean! When I make a big mistake like the demon blood." Sam said. He really shouldn't have brought that up again and Sam looked like he realized it right after he said it.  
"Well you know what? I did hate the demon blood thing! Using those powers was playing with fire in the first place. I told you not to do it and you went and did it anyway, drinking demon blood to increase your freaky abilities no less! You also ended up choosing a _demon_ over me!" I exclaimed.  
Sam's anger faded. "Can't we just… forget that already?"  
"Forget it? How can I every forget it Sammy!? My brother turned into a crazy, blood-sucking freak who is worse than half the supernatural things we hunt! And you know what, there's a possibility that someday the monster quality in you will return and history will repeat itself! You'll probably start another apocalypse and get many, many more people killed!" I yelled. I wasn't even thinking that was going way too far.  
Sam's face paled and his eyes glistened a bit, like tears were starting to fill them.  
After a moment his facial expression changed to pure angry. "You know what?! I've always looked up to you! But you know what I've been looking up to? Someone that doesn't deserve that. Someone who I wish wasn't my big brother because he sucks at the job! You always have sucked at it too Dean! I can't believe I used to want to be like my big brother! What was I trying to be like? The guy that went to hell and tortured just because he was going through some pain and tries to bury all his emotions. Why would I want to be like you when you are the worst brother ever?"  
My heart dropped. All that I'd tried to be all my life was a good big brother, looking out for Sammy all the time, watching and protecting him. Now I learn what I've always feared, I was horrible the only thing I really needed to succeed at and my brother hates me.  
"Well if I'm so bad I might as well just get out of you hair!" I screamed.  
"You might as well!" Sam shouted.  
"I hope your Great Wall of Sam breaks down so I don't have to look out for you anymore!" I yelled, as I opened the motel room door.  
"I hope it does too so I never have to see you again!" Sam exclaimed.  
I rushed out of the motel room and slammed the door as hard as I could. Sam and I both had to have some time to cool down, but I didn't want to cool down. I wanted to scream at someone and to throw something! I tried not to kick someone else's car as I rushed off to the Impala. I didn't even know where I was going as I started to drive. I just needed to get away from Sam.  
After a few hours I still hadn't cooled down, but I realized I was tired and needed to sleep. I didn't want to sleep in the Impala, so I drove back to the motel Sam and I were staying at. I got out of the Impala and unlocked the door to our motel room. The lights in the room were off, so it was harder to see anything. I walked over to where the beds were and noticed Sam was in his. Anger welled up in me again as I saw him sleeping there calmly and peacefully.  
_"What my big brother is, is the worst brother imaginable!"_ The words echoed in my head again as I stared at my brother.  
I couldn't take it being in the same room with the person who'd told me I'd failed the most important job of my life. My hurt feelings and anger were colliding together and I just couldn't stand it.  
I rushed out of the motel room, slamming the door again and sat inside the Impala. If I was sleeping anywhere tonight, it would be in my car. Since _my car_ had never hurt me unlike_ some people_…  
I don't remember exactly when I drifted off to sleep. I remember the feelings I'd had before I slept and how I was impossibly tired but couldn't drift off to sleep. Somehow I'd done it and I realized that when I'd woken up. The first thing I noticed when I was conscious was the smell. It was the smell off smoke.  
My eyes popped open as I looked for the source of the smell. My heart dropped and my breathing became more rapid when I realized it was coming from a motel room. Not just any motel room, the one Sam had been sleeping in when I last saw him. There were police officers examining the scene, firefighters putting out the last of the fire and paramedics talking to the police, firefighters and the motel workers. I climbed out of the Impala and rushed towards the disaster.  
The moment I knew it was our motel room, I had pushed the thought of Sam and my fight mostly out of my head. I still cared about my brother and I wouldn't let anything happen to him. As I rushed over I thought that Sam was probably fine. He must have smelled the smoke and rushed out of the room by the door or if for some reason that didn't open, the window.  
Then why did I have such an awful feeling as I approached the police officer? "What happened?" I asked.  
He looked at me with a grim expression on his face. "Fire. A huge one, reported a bit less than half an hour ago by someone in the next motel room over."  
"Is my brother okay?" I blurted.  
The police officer raised an eyebrow. "Your brother?"  
"He was in this room when I last saw him!" I exclaimed.  
The officer's face paled. "Are you talking about Jeff Maxwell?"  
That was the fake identity Sam had used to get into the motel (it was a really crappy one too). By the way the officer said the name, I knew I wasn't going to like what was said next. "Yeah, I'm his brother, Dean."  
"Well Dean… You should know that this fire was really strong and it was said to have set most of the room on fire within a few minutes. A worker reported the alarm in that room wasn't working. There wasn't much time to escape and we've confirmed the windows and door was jammed so even if your brother tried he couldn't have gotten out. He…" The officers voice trailed off.  
I was so worried I could barely say, "So what happened to him?"  
I thought I knew the answer.  
The officer sighed and looked at me with an incredibly hurt look. "He burned to death in that fire. Not even bones left…"  
The world seemed to stop after he said that. The realization that my brother was dead consuming me with horror. I could barely stand on two feet, but I wasn't going to break down in front of this stupid police officer. I sprinted back to the Impala (which was parked a few rooms away from the burned one) and got in, slamming the door. I didn't want to start crying, but this feeling almost made me do it. Sammy couldn't die this way. Not in some stupid fire he couldn't escape for some reason…  
As that thought went through my head, I realized that someone had to have started the fire and made sure the door and windows couldn't be an escape route. Someone that was more likely something…  
That's when another thought occurred to me. A thought that made everything a whole lot worse and made me feel the worst I'd had in my entire life.  
_Sam died when we were fighting. He died after all the horrible things I said to him and now, I can never say sorry._


	3. Chapter 2: Three Last Words

**Chapter 2: Three Last Words**  
_**Sam**_

"I hope it does too so I never have to see you again!" I yelled to Dean.  
He gave me one last angry look before he left the room and slammed the door as hard as he could.  
I just stood there after Dean left feeling a mix of many different emotions. One of the emotions that stood out the most was my anger. But there was something that I felt more than that… Hurt.  
What he said to me kept replaying over and over again.  
_"And you know what, there's a possibility that someday the monster quality in you will return and history will repeat itself! You'll probably start another apocalypse and get many, many more people killed!"_  
That's what stood out the most in our whole fight. That was what I couldn't get out of my head since he'd said it. I tried to push it out, but it wouldn't work, it just kept replaying.  
If I could undo one thing in my life it would be abandoning my brother for Ruby and starting the apocalypse. I _had_ turned into a monster and it hurt so much to think back on that time. I wished when Death put up the wall to make me forget my time in Lucifer's cage, he would have made me forget when I was a demon-blood-drinking freak too.  
What I really couldn't believe was Dean yelling all that at me. Sure, I knew it was true, but hearing my brother telling me them... I had heard him say a couple similar things before, but nothing that bad.  
Then he told me that he wanted the wall Death made in my mind to break down and I agreed with him…  
Though that really wasn't true, I didn't want the wall to come down the least bit. That made me wonder if everything Dean had said in that fight was true. Most of what I said wasn't true, so maybe it was the same with him. But you never know… and the words still hurt.  
I fell onto my bed, sighing. I was really tired for some reason and my eyes told me they wanted to go to sleep. My mind though, was wide awake and not prepared to let my eyes sleep.  
I stared up at the ceiling thinking about the mistakes I made in my life these last few years. It turned into a long list of things I wished I could undo. Starting the apocalypse, using my psychic abilities, drinking demon blood, trusting Ruby, letting Jake stab me, all my fights with my brother along with the times I'd let him down, letting myself run around soulless hurting people… (not that I'd really had a choice for the last one, but I still felt crappy thinking of it.)  
Still though the worst thing was trusting Ruby, drinking the demon blood to up my psychic abilities and starting the apocalypse, since the three of those went together. The top of the list of the worst things I've done in my life.  
And Dean called me out for it, after all I've done to try and forget those mistakes. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do anything to make up for the things I'd done. Sure, sacrificing myself to go to Lucifer's cage made up for it a bit, since I'd stopped what I started, but many people had already been killed by that time.  
I decided to shut off all this stupid regret. It wasn't going to help just regretting.  
I went to shut off the lights in the motel room and then climbed into bed. I didn't bother putting on something to wear to bed, because I knew no matter how hard I tried, I would not be sleeping. I stared up at the ceiling for a while, trying my hardest not to think of anything until…  
I passed out. I saw myself encased in fire in Lucifer's cage. I saw methods of torture used on me, the whole thing feeling like a week. The sight of me being burned and hurt. It wasn't like all I saw was all new, it was actually the same thing I saw when I passed out in Rhode Island.  
When my eyes shot opened I found myself on the floor next to my bed, breathing heavily. I wasn't in hell, but the visions were awful, even the second time. I looked around the motel room again, almost forgetting where I was and why Dean wasn't there.  
But then I remembered the fight, Dean running out of the room and what I'd been thinking since then. I didn't really know what caused me to watch that scene of me in hell again because I hadn't been thinking too hard on it. I worried though if I thought of what caused it, it would cause another one.  
I climbed back into bed, but I didn't dare close my eyes. I couldn't make myself sleep before, but now… There was absolutely no way.  
It seemed like I was lying there forever when the motel room door opened. I quickly shut my eyes, knowing it was Dean and not wanting to talk with him right now. I heard him walk over by the beds and had a feeling he was watching me. After a moment, I heard him walking again and soon after a slam. I opened my eyes and no one was there, Dean had obviously left the room again.  
I got out of bed and almost went out of the room after him. I was feeling pretty guilty I'd called him the worst brother ever when he was obviously the best, but then stopped when words popped into my mind: _…crazy, blood-sucking freak._  
_..worse than half the supernatural things we hunt…_  
_..the monster quality in you will return…_  
I wouldn't know what to say to him if I went out there other than be angry he said all that to me. I sighed as I headed back to my bed and lay down.  
I didn't think I would ever get to sleep, but within half an hour, I was having a dream. Dean and I were in the motel room yelling at each other again.  
"Maybe we shouldn't be hunting partners anymore!" I yelled.  
"I couldn't think of anything better!" Dean shouted back.  
"Okay, well have fun packing your stuff and getting out of my face!" I screamed.  
Dean smiled mischievously. "I'm not down with you yet."  
I frowned as Dean came forwards and punched me in the face. I pushed him back then punched him too. He then kicked me and knocked me to the floor. I kicked him on the floor too and momentarily got the upper hand. Dean punched and kicked me and I kicked and punched him. The fights went on for what seemed like five minutes. When we were done our faces were messed up and bloody, but our expressions still angry.  
That's when Dean took out a gun. "Sam you deserve this. You're evil inside."  
"Dean, please don't shoot." I begged. "Just because I have demon blood in me doesn't make me evil. Please! I thought we were over this!"  
"You thought wrong." Dean said as he aimed the gun at me and was about to pulled the trigger.  
I jumped out of the way just moments before he shot the gun. I looked around the motel room and saw it was damaged by us accidentally smashing stuff during our fight. There was also now a bit of a wreckage behind me from where Dean had just shot the gun. I was surprised the people in the motel room beside us didn't call the police.  
That's when I started smelling smoke and I looked around as the room started to catch on fire quickly. I turned around to warn Dean, but was shocked when I saw him re-aiming the gun at me even in the midst of this fire.  
"You deserve this." He said, and pulled the trigger.  
My eyes burst open just when the bullet was about to hit me. I started coughing the second I was conscious, for some reason I still smelled smoke. My eyes widened as I looked around and realized one thing in my dream had been true. The motel room really did catch on fire, and it was spreading around the room fast. It had started on the night stand next to me and already caught on Dean's bed and was going to catch on mine in a second. I rushed to the door as fast as I could, which meant running past the huge flames and tried pulling it opened. It as budged. I repetitively banged on it and screamed "Fire!", but no one came and helped me get out. As I looked back at the flames consuming a lot of the room I decided I needed to do something else.  
I rushed to the window, coughing as I tried to unlock and open it. It wouldn't open though, it was jammed just like the door had been! I tried just punching it in an attempt to break it but my fists just weren't doing it and no one was on the outside of the room to help me break it. I caught sight of the Impala parked a few rooms away from this one.  
"Dean!" I yelled, though I knew he wouldn't hear me. "Dean, help!"  
I turned around and looked around the room for something to smash the window with. I could barely see in the room, my eyes were watering from the smoke and heat and I could barely breathe. I noticed a small garbage next to me and quickly picked it up and threw it at the window as hard as I could. It wouldn't break. I punched and threw at it and barely made a crack in the window and by that time there was fire almost everywhere in the room.  
I sank against the wall beside the window. I knew that I was going to die in the flames and there was nothing I could do to stop that. I couldn't believe that I would be dying in a stupid fire!  
I was already losing consciousness and knew in less than forty seconds I would be dead. Dying wasn't good. I was worried for all the people I couldn't save now because I died. Mostly I was worried about leaving Dean, which was the thing I wanted to do the least. I thought of how much Dean would regret leaving the room and fighting with me before I died. I felt bad about fighting now too.  
The thing I was least worried about was the actual dying and where my afterlife would be.  
As I was about to lose consciousness, I thought of how I could never apologize for the things I said to Dean during out fight. There were three words I needed to say before I died, even if no one heard me saying them. I also had another reason to say apologize, I was leaving my brother alone.  
"I'm sorry Dean." Were my last three words before I lost my breath and lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 3: Regretting

**Chapter 3: Regretting**

The woman almost laughed when she saw Sam Winchester banging on the window of the motel room for help. She saw him catch eye of Dean after that and scream his name and she couldn't hold it in. She started laughed hysterically until Sam gave up yelling and started throwing a trash can at the window. The woman moved a piece of curly jet black hair out of my face as she watched Sam's countless attempts at escaping. Sam then wore a defeated expression and sank down next to the window.  
_He's preparing himself for death._ The woman thought, as she went to stare in the window of the burning room. He would be dead in a minute.  
The demon got herself in the room easily enough, it wasn't too hard for her to get into places considering what species she was. Sam didn't even notice her get in the room.  
"I'm sorry Dean." Sam whispered, before shutting his eyes.  
The demon started laughing again. "I'm sorry Dean"? Pathetic! Sam Winchester was pathetic!  
She watched as Sam's shoe caught on fire and changed her mind on an important decision.  
What's better than killing one Winchester, is killing both right? She thought. That had been the demon's original plan, but it was ruined when the brothers got into their big fight.  
The demon thought up a master plan in less than twenty seconds. As she heard someone scream outside and saw Sam's shoe continue to burn, she knew she needed to be as quick as she possibly could the first part of her new plan.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
**Dean**

I was still in the Impala. I had been sitting there for hours as I stared at the blocked off and burned down motel room.  
No one came to the car to talk to me once. The officer I'd talked to earlier gave me a sad look before he drove off in his cop car, but didn't speak to me directly. I don't know if anyone else around here knew that it was my brother who died in that fire. If they did and they saw me they didn't really seem to care. I was glad they didn't because I didn't want their empathy anyway.  
My brother was dead, but I wouldn't let him stay like that for long.  
There was no doubt that I was a million times beyond depressed, but I wasn't going to lose hope I could get some way to get him back. I'd made a deal with a crossroads demon before after all.  
Though the more I thought about it, the less I thought I was going to bring him back. Deals were almost out of the question because the crossroad demons probably hated me for coming back to life and Sam and I killed a couple of their co-workers…  
I hadn't even called Bobby yet to tell him that Sam had died for two reasons. One: I wasn't telling him until I knew there was no way I could get my brother back and two: I wouldn't be able to bear telling him why I hadn't been with him. Because of our awful and stupid fight which I hadn't stopped thinking about even yet.  
I'd told Sam he was a monster, that he would turn dark side again. I had totally ignored how he'd paled and tears looked like they were forming in his eyes. That should have been my indication to stop, apologize and have an emotional moment of forgiveness and sadness.  
I heard a tapping on my window and unrolled it to a women. She looked like she was in her late twenties and the expression on her face was confused and kind of sad. She wore light amounts of makeup and had big eyes. What stood out about her was she had curly jet black hair that fell down to her waist. She was dressed in jeans and a plain black t-shirt. She was extremely pretty and I probably would have flirted with her if my little brother hadn't just died.  
But he had so I just wanted her to leave me alone as I sat here.  
"Hi, why have you just been sitting in your car for the past few hours?" She asked.  
"Why do you care?" I snapped. "Nothing. I've just been hanging out here to think about rainbows."  
She gave me a small smile that sort of had a mischievous look to it. "Rainbows huh?"  
I frowned. "Uh, yeah."  
Her smile (which I was now sure was very mischievous) grew. "Not because the closest person in your life died then right?"  
My heart skipped a beat and my eyes widened. "How do you know my brother just died?"  
"Oh, Sammy Winchester?" She asked. Then her eyes changed from her electrifying blue to all black. With that she turned around and started running away from the car.  
I pushed opened the door of the Impala and ran after her, I didn't even care that I didn't close or lock the doors. This demon knew my brother died so there was a possibility she killed my brother. If that happened I was going to make the bitch pay.  
"Did you start that fire?" I yelled at her. She didn't stop after my question. If anything she sped up. I sped up too running as fast as my legs would take me. I had chased her away from the motel and we were running down by the side of the road.  
I chased her until we entered a forest. Once we were quite a bit of ways in there the demon suddenly stopped and turned to face me. She flicked her hand and I was slammed up against a tree by what felt like an invisible force. The demon's telekinetic powers.  
"Yes, I started the fire and you know what? It was supposed to kill both of you, but didn't because you decided to have a fight with each other." She said. "That fight saved your little life Dean."  
My heart fell when she said that. "Then why don't you just kill me now?"  
She smiled mischievously. "I have a plan that will make that _so_ much more fun…"  
I gritted my teeth and when the demon saw how angry I looked she continued talking. "He was calling for you. The door wouldn't budge and he banged on the window to get out. He noticed you in the Impala and called your name for help, but of course you didn't hear him. I couldn't help but laugh."  
Sammy. He had tried to get out, but couldn't do it, and I was sleeping through it all, not knowing my brother was about that die! I can't believe that I had fallen asleep. Doing that had caused my brother's death. I could have saved him.  
"He's so pathetic Dean." The demon continued. "You should want another brother, one who's last words will make them sound tough or strong."  
"Last words?" I asked, not wanting to know what they were.  
"Yeah, 'I'm sorry Dean'. Pathetic!" She exclaimed, laughing hysterically.  
_"I'm sorry Dean"?_ He said he was sorry even though he knew I'd never hear it? Was that really worth his last breath? Just hearing that made me angrier than ever as I struggled against the demon's force, wanting to kill her with a passion.  
"Now there's something you need to know about Sammy…" She said slowly.  
I didn't even bother asking what as I struggled to get away from her force.  
"It's a secret about your brother that you should know." She continued.  
I focused my attention only a bit more on her. "Secret? What the hell is it?"  
"You'll have to find out on your own, but be warned: take too long and you'll regret it." She finished. Then she grabbed some rope from in her jacket and tied me around the tree. After she made sure it was secure she stopped using the demonic force and walked out of the forest, leaving me there.  
"That son of a bitch!" I muttered, struggling to get out of the ropes. I tried to reach into my jacket to get my knife, but my hands were stuck where they were. How was I supposed to get out of here?  
I hated the idea of needing some help of strangers, but I wasn't getting out of here without calling for help. "Is anybody around here?!"


	5. Chapter 4: The Secret

**Chapter 4: The Secret**  
_**Dean**_

It had taken almost half an hour for someone to show up and help me get off that stupid tree. They tried to ask me how I'd ended up there but I wouldn't answer him and ran off. I didn't want to be around anyone anytime soon.  
I kept thinking about the last thing the demon had said to me,_ "You'll have to find out on your own, but be warned: take too long and you'll regret it."_  
In most cases I would have ignored that remark. Regret what? What more could I possibly regret? Nothing. There was nothing that could make me regret more than I was regretting right now.  
But she seemed very sure of this secret. Sure, demons lied, but I had a gut feeling that there was some truth in her secret. How was I going to figure out the secret if there was one?  
There might be one way I could figure out the secret and I was going to go there anyway…

-SUPERNATURAL-

I looked all four directions at the crossroads, waiting for a demon to show up. Maybe the demon that came would know something about the curly haired demon that killed my brother. If that didn't work I could go for the long shot chance that I could make a deal. After a minute I started to wonder if one was even going to come when I heard,  
"What do you want Dean Winchester?"  
I spun around and saw a woman in a short black dress and long blond hair. Yeah, that was a crossroads demon. A sexy, bitchy woman in a short dress.  
"What do you think?" I asked.  
"I don't know. You tell me." She said.  
"Do you know about a demon with black curly hair?" I asked.  
"Why would I tell you even if I knew?" She answered.  
"Because she killed my brother and I'm not in a good mood. I can take it out on you." I said.  
"I'm going to tell you something Dean Winchester and it's not because you threatened me, but because this will be interesting. The demon's name is Charlotte. She's very smart and was thinking of a plan to kill both of you Winchesters."  
"I know that. She was going to burn us both down, but we got into a fight and Sam…" My voice trailed off.  
The demon looked like she was considering something. "She wouldn't settle for one of you. She thought of a new plan."  
"Charlotte mentioned that there was a secret about Sam. Know what that might be?" I asked.  
She gave me a smile. "I like you Dean. I'll give you a week and I'll tell you. Come on it's the best deal your going to get from any of us crossroads demons!"  
"No." I refused. "The secret can't be that hard to figure out."  
"That's right, it isn't." She agreed.  
"Is… Is Sam alive but captured by Charlotte?" I asked.  
"No. Your brother is dead Dean." The crossroads demon said.  
The little hope that question had given me was drained away. It had been less than a day, but I missed my brother like hell. I couldn't live in a world without my little brother. I had done it for a while, but no matter how many times I smiled and acted happy, I never really was.  
"Then I guess that secret really wasn't that important." I said.  
"Charlotte's a liar." The demon mentioned.  
"Sure is seeming that way." I muttered.  
"Well… I can make you a different deal." The crossroads demon said.  
"Really? You'll bring me Sam back?" I asked, feeling confused. Why would she ever do that? The crossroad demons surely hated me. I completely screwed over their deal by coming back to life. Plus, I killed many demons over the past few years and even one or two crossroad demons. They wouldn't possibly do anything for me.  
"I can bring Sam back to you, yes." She said. "I can give you a week."  
I frowned. That was a horrible deal on my part. I didn't enjoy hell and wouldn't be excited to go back there if I were to make this deal. Plus Sam's reaction to what I'd done when he came back would make me feel guilty for doing it. Last time I did this, I felt like I almost shouldn't have brought Sam back. He was freaking out over the fact I had to go to hell and had completely struggled when I had been gone.  
"Wait…" I started. "Why should I trust you?"  
"Why not?" She asked. "The deal will work. I can't skip out on it."  
"Why should I trust you on the fact that Sam is dead?" I asked.  
"Oh Dean. Dean, Dean, Dean! You should never trust me on things like that. But you can't trust Charlotte either. I guess you have to make the decision on who you think is being more truthful to you." She answered.  
"Thanks for that you bitch." I commented.  
I had no idea which demon was telling the truth. It didn't seem like any demons would ever tell the truth. My head was currently spinning and I couldn't make up my mind.  
The crossroads demon sighed. "I'm sick of this… You're dead if you go looking Dean. Both you and your brother will be dead."  
"Are you admitting that my brother's alive?" I asked, my hope rising.  
"Yes." She said. "But I'm done giving you information Dean Winchester."  
I couldn't believe it. My brother was alive, I sighed in relief and couldn't help but smile to myself. I didn't have him back yet, but nothing could be greater than the fact Sammy was okay.  
Plus, what could possibly happen that would ruin this? I had beaten many demons before. I could find her, kill her, save Sam and we'd both survive. I could get my chance to say sorry to my brother too and we could leave this behind us.  
I kept thinking things like that in my head, but if I really thought that way, why did I have a feeling something awful was going to happen?


	6. Chapter 5: Alive and Captured

**Chapter 5: Alive and Captured**  
_**Sam**_

When I regained consciousness, the first thing I thought is _Why is this bed so hard?_. Then I realized that I shouldn't be _feeling_ anything, because the last thing I remembered was being in a fire that was about to consume me. I remembered apologizing to Dean with my last breath and then losing consciousness. I shouldn't be alive at all! Maybe I was dead. That seemed to be a reasonable explanation since after losing consciousness I would have definitely die.  
I slowly opened my eyes and sat up. If I was dead, I didn't know why I was here.  
I was in a circular room with stone walls and a stone floor. It had a large metal door with a small window. The window didn't have any glass on it, but it didn't matter, I wasn't getting out from there because of how extremely small it was. That window was the only thing that even provided light into the room. I looked up and I saw a pretty low stone roof.  
There was no way this could be heaven, I knew that since I'd actually been to heaven before. My heart fell as I realized that maybe this was hell. I looked around, in case I would see the walls close in and squash me or someone to walk in and use an evil method of torture on me. I waited for a few minutes for something to happen, but no one came in to torture me and the walls didn't close in.  
Maybe I wasn't in hell after all, because I guessed they would start the torture right away if I'd gone down there. I wondered again if this was heaven. If it is, then maybe I can just walk out of the metal door. It had a handle on it so it's not like I couldn't try.  
I stood up and immediately my feet filled with pain. I looked down at them and saw that my boots were partly burned up. My feet hurt around the same area of the burn. Had my feet gotten burned in that fire? But why would the burns even be here if I was dead?  
Unless… I was alive. But that didn't make any sense, there was no way I could be alive. I was about to be burned and had just suffocated from the heavy smoke. There wasn't a possible way that I could be saved from that.  
I walked over to the giant metal door, every step I took was pretty painful which told me that I must have gotten burned pretty badly. I still didn't know why I would still have the burns in the afterlife; no matter where I had gone.  
I pulled the handle, but the door wouldn't opened. I peered through the extremely small window and saw a wooden staircase, lit up by a surprisingly bright light bulb.  
Was this some kind of method of torture? Being locked up in a small room, confused on where I was and how I'd gotten there? That would be too kind of the demons in hell to do to me. Surely they had worse things they wanted to do to Sam Winchester.  
I started banging on the door. I didn't know if there was someone around wherever the heck I was, but someone had to have brought me here… No matter where I was or what had happened to me.  
"Hello!" I yelled as I banged on the door.  
After a couple minutes of banging and yelling, I walked away from the door and started pacing the room. It didn't really help my burned up feet, but I didn't care. After a minute of annoyingly pacing the room, I heard a knock on the window that made my heart skip a beat. I looked through the small window and saw a women on the other side of it. I rushed over to the window and stared at the women. She had long curly black hair and an annoyed look in her eyes. I couldn't see anymore of here other than her eyes and the top of her head.  
"I was trying to get some sleep!" She exclaimed, she sounded annoyed.  
"Who are you and where am I?" I asked.  
She raised an eyebrow. "I'm Charlotte. But I want to hear your opinions on where you think you are Sammy."  
I frowned. "I don't know. Heaven? Hell? I can't even tell…"  
She laughed evilly. "Heaven or hell? So you think you're dead?"  
"Yes. I was in a huge fire and I was on the verge of suffocating to death. There's no way I could have gotten out of there alive." I replied.  
"Well, guess what Sam? I'm that way you got out." Charlotte said.  
My eyes widened. "How did you even get in?"  
"I have my ways." She answered. I was about to ask what that meant when her eyes turned demonic black.  
"You're a demon." I stated.  
"Yes." Charlotte replied. "I'm a demon. I'm also the one that started that fire in your motel room."  
I gritted my teeth. "You started it?!"  
"Yes I-" She started.  
She was cut off when I started saying a demon exorcism spell, which I had learned off by heart a long time ago. I hadn't really said it too many times because of the demonic powers I once used and the demon killing knife.  
Charlotte just turned away and rushed up the stairs as fast as she could. The exorcism wouldn't work very well if she wasn't here, so I guess that would be pretty smart thinking on her part. Not that I wanted her to have thought smartly.  
I turned away from the door and looked around the empty room again. That only took about two seconds though, since it was a empty room. I started pacing around the room again, having no idea what to do.  
I completely ignored the pain in my feet. I had other things to worry about, like how I was going to get out of here.  
The first thing I thought of was Dean, but then I thought about what might have happened when he woke up in the morning. The motel room would be on fire and there would be no signs of me whatsoever.  
What if Dean thought I'd died? That made me feel completely awful and guilty. Dean would be mourning my death, wanting revenge and feeling a whole heap of guilt for not making up for our fight before I "died".  
That fight had been so dumb! It had been something so little that turned into something so awful. I hadn't meant any of those awful things I said to Dean. Worst brother ever? More like the absolute best! I had just blurted out the thing that I knew would hurt Dean's feelings the most, since he had always tried to be the best big brother. He wouldn't be able to stand hearing that he failed at the important job of being an amazing brother.  
I realized that Dean might already doing something stupid to try to get me back. That obviously wasn't good. Maybe he'd somehow figured out I was alive and was out there searching for me. Though I had no idea how he'd figure it out and would ever find me at this place. I didn't even know where in the world I was, how would Dean?  
I put my hands into my jacket's pockets and froze when I felt something in there. Charlotte wouldn't let me have this would she? No way she would let me keep it on me…  
But she had. I looked at my cell phone carefully for a moment as if it might have been some sort of trick and not really my phone. I turned it around in my hands a few times and I decided that it was my phone and there wasn't a trick here.  
Before I even opened it up, I realized that it didn't matter that she hadn't taken the phone away from me. I obviously couldn't tell Dean where I was when even I didn't know and there was no possible way I could have had any kind of reception down here.  
I turned the phone on anyway, like something might come out of it. My eyes widened when I noticed I had been wrong about something.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

Sam was alive. Words couldn't even describe how relieved I felt after I figured that out. Most of the guilt and regret had been lifted along with my worry. But not all the worry had disappeared because Sam was still gone and that awful feeling was continuing to loom over me. It was clear that Charlotte had captured Sam and taken him somewhere. He could be states away by now. Maybe he was even in a different country. I had absolutely no signs of where Charlotte might go.  
Something I didn't understand was why Charlotte would save Sam from a fire that she had stared… She probably had an awful plan of something she would do to him that she thought of after she started the fire.  
My best current guess of her plan was that she was trying to lure me to wherever she was and get the opportunity to kill us both. If I even found out where the hell the demon was, I would be walking into a big, fat trap by going to rescue Sammy.  
But I didn't really care. I was going to find Sam no matter what. If Charlotte planned a trap, it didn't matter, I was still saving my little brother.  
When I was about to get in the Impala to drive back to the motel, my phone started to ring. I guessed that it was probably Bobby when I pulled it out, but that wasn't who's name came up.  
I quickly flipped open my phone. "Sammy?"


	7. Chapter 6: Phone Call

**Chapter 6: Phone Call**  
_**Sam**_

I immediately went through my contact list and called Dean. It didn't matter if I knew where I was or not, Dean would be able to track the call. Besides that, he might not know I'm alive yet and I didn't want him to be filled with guilt and regret any longer. In the case Dean had figured out I was alive, he'd probably still want to hear from me if I could contact him.  
The phone rang once, then twice. I waited, hoping Dean had his phone on him and would just pick up.  
_"Sammy?"_ Dean's voice came from the phone. He sounded like he was full of concern. _"Is that you?"_

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

"Is that you?" I asked. I could hear the deep concern in my voice.  
It seemed like forever before a voice came through that phone._ "Yeah Dean, it's me."_  
I breathed a sigh of relief. The second I picked up the call I was worried that someone else would pick up, like Charlotte and she would tell me that if I didn't do this or that she would kill my brother.  
That didn't mean she hadn't done anything yet. "Are you okay?"  
There was a long pause on the other end which I didn't like sitting through. "Sam are you okay?"  
_"Yeah I'm okay, for now. I just lost my reception in here for a second. I guess I have to stand closer to this door…"_ Sam answered.  
"What do you mean "for now"?" I asked. "Where are you?"  
_"I'm…"_ Sam started. It seemed like he was considering it._ "I'm in this circular, stone room. I think it's down in a basement or something. But anyway, I'm locked in here by a demon named-"_  
"Charlotte?" I asked.  
_"Yeah."_ Sam replied. _"I tried to exorcise her when she came down, but she ran off before I could finish."_  
"Sammy! What would you have done if you exorcised her and were still trapped in that dungeon?" I asked. _Well wasn't that just a smart idea? The guy could call himself book smart all he wanted, but he was stupid in the common supernatural hunting sense._  
There was a pause. _"You know, that thought hadn't occurred to me."_  
I rolled my eyes. "Do you know where you are? What city?"  
_"Uh, no. But you could probably find that out pretty easily."_ Sam mentioned.  
"Yeah, I could. Good point." I agreed, then I paused before asking the question I least wanted to know the answer to. "What do you think Charlotte's going to do to you?"  
_"I'm not really sure… She didn't tell me. Right now, I'm just trapped here."_ Sam responded.  
I didn't like the idea of my brother trapped in some demon's basement, especially since that demon was probably planning on doing something awful to him.  
_"Trapped here…"_ Sam repeated like he was in some sort of trance.  
"Sammy?" I said.  
_"You know… This is kind of like being trapped in Bobby's panic room."_ Sam said.  
My heart fell. One of the couple times he was trapped in that panic room, he was high on demon blood.  
I think I knew what Sam was getting at. He was trying to remind me of the fight we got into and that we hadn't exactly talked about if our words had been true yet.  
"I heard what you said." I muttered.  
_"What I said?"_ Sam repeated, obviously confused.  
"Charlotte told me what you said before you thought you were going to die." I answered.  
"Oh." Sam said, obviously remembering the words.  
"I'm sorry too." I said. "I didn't mean it about you being a monster and having the possibility of becoming evil again. Or any of the other awful things that I yelled at you for! I'm sorry I doubted you after you picked something that wasn't a case too. That was a really dumb thing to start an argument about."  
"It's okay Dean. I'm sorry again. What I said to you was a complete lie, you're definitely not the worst brother ever." Sam said.  
I smiled. "Okay the annoying, gushy brotherly love fest is over."  
_"Got it."_ Sam agreed, I could tell that he was smiling.  
"So you want me to-" I started.  
That's when I heard a bang on the other end of the phone, a clattering noise and then it was completely silent.  
"Sammy, what was that?" I asked.  
_"Sam's a little busy right now but I can leave him a message for you."_ A cocky female voice said.  
"Charlotte." I growled. "Let. My. Brother. Go!"  
She laughed._ "Oh Dean, that's so sweet. But if you want him, come get him. It'll cost you to get him back though…"_  
"Cost me what?" I asked.  
_"Your life."_ Charlotte answered._ "But isn't that too much for your stupid, monster of a brother?"_  
"No." I said. "I'd give anything for my brother."  
I heard protesting by Sam somewhere in the background of the other line and only heard bits and pieces of what he yelled:_ " … stupid!", "…worth…", "…demons…" "You can't…."._ I could pretty much guessed all of what Sam had just said, _"Dean, don't be stupid! I'm not worth giving up your life for! Besides, demons are lying, evil, sons of bitches ! You can't trust her!"_. It was totally predictable, half because I knew my brother so well and half because that's what I would say if the situation was reversed.  
_"Shut up Sam!"_ Charlotte yelled. There was a clatter shortly after that when Sam kept protesting. There was a loud gasp, which sounded like Sam's and the phone was picked up again.  
_"Sorry about that Dean. Had to make him shut up._" Charlotte said.  
"What did you do to him!?" I yelled.  
_"He's not dead… yet. But if you take too long he will be. If he won't shut up: I'll kill him. If you take too long to get here: he'll die."_ She mentioned. _"I wouldn't waste time having pathetic conversations on how sorry you are that you hurt each other's little feelings."_  
"Okay so where are you?" I asked.  
She laughed. _"Like I would tell you that. Figure it out on your own, I'm sure that'll be simple enough for Dean Winchester."_  
"As a matter of fact it is." I said.  
_"Have fun Dean."_ Charlotte said, and with that she hung up the phone.  
I sighed. I wasn't going to get my brother back very easily.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Sam**_

_"So you want me to-"_ Dean started to ask.  
I spun around when I heard the door open with a loud bang. Charlotte appeared and used her demonic powers to push me up against the wall. My phone clattered to the floor when I was shoved. There was a moment of complete silence.  
_"Sammy what was that?"_ I heard Dean ask.  
Charlotte picked up the phone and smiled at me mischievously. "Sam's a little busy right now but I can leave him a message for you."  
I gritted my teeth. I couldn't hear what Dean was saying now, but Charlotte seemed to think it was amusing. I guessed he said something about leaving me alone.  
"Oh Dean, that's so sweet. But if you want him, come get him. It'll cost you to get him back though…" Charlotte said.  
My eyes widened. I knew Dean was going to ask what it would cost and it couldn't be anything good.  
"Your life." Charlotte answered into the phone. "But isn't that too much for your stupid, monster of a brother?"  
I got extremely angry when she called me a monster when she was the one who locked me up down here. I knew Dean was about to make a mistake though…  
"Dean, don't be stupid! I'm not worth giving up your life for! And remember, demons are lying and evil! You can't trust her!" I protested loudly, hoping that my brother would hear me.  
"Shut up Sam!" Charlotte yelled at me.  
"No!" I protested. "If you want to hurt me, hurt me. Leave my brother alone!"  
Charlotte threw my phone to the ground when I was halfway through saying that and came towards me.  
I started to say the demon exorcism spell again, when Charlotte took out a knife and cut deeply into my stomach. Blood came oozing through my cut shirt and I felt deeply in pain. I gasped pretty loudly and Charlotte pulled out a cloth and gagged me with it.  
Charlotte picked up the phone again. "Sorry about that Dean. Had to make him shut up."  
I heard Dean yelling on the other line. My stomach continued exploding with pain and I couldn't yell through the gag.  
"He's not dead… yet. But if you take too long he will be. If he won't shut up: I'll kill him. If you take too long to get here: he'll die." Charlotte explained. "I wouldn't waste time having pathetic conversations on how sorry you are that you hurt each other's little feelings."  
I wanted to strangle her for that, but of course I couldn't do anything right now.  
Charlotte laughed at something Dean said. "Like I would tell you that. Figure it out on your own, I'm sure that'll be simple enough for Dean Winchester."  
After a moment Charlotte gave me an evil smile and said, "Have fun Dean."  
With that she hung up the phone and threw it to the floor. "Seriously Sammy!? Don't make phone calls to your brother. What did you think: that I wasn't going to hear you talking down here?"  
She took out her knife again and held it near my eye. "I will poke your eyes out if you try to exorcise me or call your brother. Not that I'll let calls be available anymore anyway."  
I believed her. Charlotte gave me another smile and exited the room, closing the door behind her. Once she started up the stairs, I fell down from where I was being pinned to the wall.  
I pulled the gag out of my mouth and threw it to the ground, then held my deeply cut stomach. I tried to ignore the pain because the only thing I could think of was that I hoped Dean had a plan when he was coming in here and wasn't really thinking about trusting a demon.


	8. Chapter 7: Location, Location, Location!

**Chapter 7: Location, Location, Location!**  
_**Dean**_

Was it really that easy for me to just simply find Sam using the GPS on his phone or using some other method to trace the phone call or phone? Apparently yes.  
I found out where Sam was: British Columbia… In Canada. He was in a town near Vancouver. I couldn't find his exact location in the town, but at least I knew where he was.  
Sure, I had been incredibly lucky to find out what town Sam was in, but it was definitely not the place that I'd hoped he'd been in.  
I'd only expected him to be a few states over or something, not out of the country! From where I was now, British Columbia was probably more than twenty-four hours away! There was no way I could leave Sammy there that long! Who knew what Charlotte would do to him by then.  
Now I had a couple options: to drive or… take a plane.  
Since I was terrified of flying I wanted to avoid taking a plane, but if taking a plane meant saving my brothers life sooner then I would have to do it! Then again, taking a plane would mean leaving my Impala behind in some parking lot.  
It was a tossup: Sam might not get hurt if I didn't take a plane, but did I want to take that chance?  
Then there was one other thing I could do that would be easier than the other ideas, but I was totally against it.  
After all the crap with Crowley, the last thing I wanted to do was call Cas for help. But if Cas could take me to Sam, then it shouldn't matter how angry I am at him right now.  
I got out of the Impala, which I had been sitting in to think until now and looked up at the cloudy sky.  
"Cas?" I said. "I need your help. It doesn't mean I forgive you, but it's Sam… he's in trouble."  
I looked around hoping to see the angel in the trench coat but he didn't come.  
"Come on Cas!" I yelled. "A demon's got my brother! I don't care what you're doing, it's no excuse to not come and help!"  
I looked around again, looking to see if I'd made him feel guilty enough to come. Apparently I hadn't because after a full minute of waiting Castiel still didn't show.  
"Cas you son of a bitch!" I yelled at the sky.  
I looked back to ground level and saw a young woman staring at me. She looked freaked out by the man near her yelling at the sky. When she caught me looking, she quickly hurried down the street. _Thanks for that lady! Now I feel Crazy!_  
I sighed. Now I _did_ have to make a decision and quickly.

-SUPERNATURAL-

"What!?" I exclaimed to the lady working at the airport.  
"Sorry. Like I said, the next flight to Vancouver isn't until Monday." The lady responded, not looking sorry at all.  
"I've got a brother who I need to get to as soon as possible!" I said. Monday wasn't for another three days and I could drive there faster than waiting for this flight.  
"Well, he's just going to have to wait a little longer hasn't he?" She asked, clearly annoyed.  
"Screw you." I muttered to the lady before leaving the desk and walking away from the lines of people at it.  
As I walked out of the airport and headed towards the Impala, I decided that I could just drive to another airport somewhere else. It's not like all the airports flights to Vancouver weren't until Monday.

-SUPERNATURAL-

Five other airports. I went to_ five other airports_ to try and get a flight to Vancouver, (which wasn't even the exact right place, but as close as I could get) but the soonest I could get on a plane was Sunday and there was no way I was waiting two days!  
I had a horrible pain in my stomach now since I'd wasted so much time trying to get a flight. I probably could've already driven a few hours to Sam's location and now I was going to have to make him wait longer.  
As I drove towards Canada, I was sure I past through more cities with airports, but I didn't take the chance to check them out. It was obvious that their was something trying to stop me from getting to Sam. That something was probably Charlotte. She probably wanted Sammy to die before I got there and then kill me when I arrived.  
I wasn't actually planning on taking up Charlotte's offer and giving up my life for Sam's. Demons lie, and she was just trying to get both Sam and I killed. I had to sneak in, free Sam, then kill that son of a bitch. I needed to hurry up too. I had already wasted enough time and Sam could die if I didn't get there quick enough.  
The thought made me speed faster down the road, I was determined to save my brother. I _would_ save my brother this time.


	9. Chapter 8: Just Another Failed Rescue

**Chapter 8: Just Another Failed Rescue Attempt**  
_**Sam**_

I was now sitting against the cold, stone wall of Charlotte's dungeon. I was holding the dirty cloth Charlotte had used as a gag against my stomach wound. When Charlotte had stabbed me, I knew that I had been hurt pretty bad, but it was way worse than I thought it was. After a few hours of sitting down here bored, the pain in my stomach suddenly hit me harder than ever. I don't know how I'd been ignoring most of the pain, since lots of blood had been flowing out since I'd been cut. Now there was no blood flow, I didn't know when it the earlier flow had started and stopped, but it did go on and off once and a while. A bit of blood actually started flowing out after I was thinking about it. My head was spinning, I was so dizzy. I wished it would just stop, but that obviously wasn't happening. Not as long as I left this wound untreated…  
If blood kept flowing out of me, I would bleed out before Dean arrived.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

_Couldn't I get there any faster?!_ Sure, now I was probably only a couple hours away from my destination and I had sped as fast as Impala would go on any places I could get away with it, but I felt like I was risking Sam's life with every second I took. There's no way Charlotte left Sam unharmed in that dungeon for hours. Something had to have happened to him! I tried to keep my mind off the fact that I might not save my brother, but that's what my thoughts kept going too.  
But there was also a loop repeating over and over again in my head:  
_IhavetosaveSammy! IhavetosaveSammy! IhavetosaveSammy!_  
There was no way I could let him die. Not now! Not like this.  
Not when I only got him back from hell a few months ago!

-SUPERNATURAL-

I didn't even want to think about how long that drive had taken. Besides, I couldn't worry about that right now; I was here!  
Then again, I had a whole town to search around for my little brother. But really, how hard could that possibly be?  
Wait… Was that really something I wanted to answer?  
I was driving around town hoping to see some big obvious place a demon would hide out in; I didn't find one. There wasn't one place that popped out to me as a demon's lair.  
Maybe I should try something different. I drove to the nearest convenience store, parked the Impala and headed inside. I marched straight up to the man who was working behind the register.  
"Hi. Have you seen a woman with curly, black hair and a creepy smile anywhere around here?" I asked. "Her name would be Charlotte."  
"Freaky looking blue eyes?" He asked.  
_Or black eyes._ I thought. "Yeah. You see here around recently?"  
"Who wants to know?" He asked, studying me carefully.  
I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my fake badge. I flicked it opened and held it out towards the man. "FBI."  
He looked closely at the badge for a moment before nodding. I put the badge back as the man started to talk again. "I haven't personally seen her in a few days, but…"  
"But?" I asked.  
The man bit his lip. "Well, the lady has only been in town for a few weeks, but she's been caught near a couple mysterious deaths. Some locals think she caused them."  
_They're probably right._ I thought.  
"Then I got a call from a friend of mine. Swore he saw Charlotte dragging a person into her house." He mentioned.  
"Did the person look incredibly tall?" I asked, getting anxious.  
"Yeah, that's how my friend described him. He also used the word "sasquatach". Apparently the guy also had a bag over his head." The man answered.  
"Where does Charlotte live?"

-SUPERNATURAL-

I parked a few houses away from Charlotte's, hoping that would keep her from seeing me right away. I snuck over into Charlotte's backyard and approached the backdoor. I quickly picked my way inside, quietly walked in and closed the door. I pulled out the demon killing knife, prepared to use it if Charlotte were to show herself. I had to find Sammy first though. He could be a few minutes from death for all I knew. The demonic son of a bitch could wait, my brother couldn't.  
I wandered the hall looking for the right place. I opened a couple doors in hope of seeing stairs that would lead to a basement where my brother would be trapped in. One door opened to a staircase leading down a floor. Yahtzee!  
I tiptoed down the first couple steps and closed the door slowly behind me. I was going to go very slowly down the steps. That probably would have caused a minimal amount of noise.  
As I was tiptoeing down the fifth or six steps I heard a voice mumbling from behind the huge iron door at the bottom. "Charlotte, I'm going… To kill you…."  
I knew the voice all too well.  
I should have remembered I was trying to be quiet and sneaky. That if I made too much noise, I could give Charlotte the advantage of sneaking up on me. I forgot it all though when I heard my brother still alive. Obviously not doing very well, but definitely alive. I rushed down the remaining stairs and looked into the small window in the door.  
It was a fairly small circular room made of stone. I saw Sam lying down on the stone floor. He was staring up at the ceiling with a pained look on his face. I caught sight of his shirt. It was stained with blood. Most of it looked like it was from hours ago, but there was a bit of it that was fresh.  
"Sammy?" I called.  
Sam turned his head towards the door. "Dean?"  
He quickly sat up, clutching his stomach after he did. He started trying to stand and almost doubled over when he did. Sam started swaying and looked sickly pale, but he kept his eyes on me, obvious relief in them.  
I looked away from Sam to examine the door. I pushed the latch over, unlocking the door. I pushed it opened and Sam gave me a smile; then he started to fall over. I rushed over and caught him before he hit the ground.  
"Sammy you okay?" I asked.  
"Yeah. I'll be fine." He replied.  
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You sure? Because you have blood all over your shirt."  
Sam looked down at himself. "Oh... That."  
"Yes, that." I said, rolling my eyes.  
I helped Sam stand up straight and when he assured me he was good enough to walk I took a cautious step back. Sam took one step and started tumbling down again. Only to be caught by me… again.  
"Dude you are so not okay." I mentioned. Sam clearly didn't know the difference between being okay and not okay.  
Sam's eyes started to close slowly. I snapped my fingers in front of his face and they opened again.  
"Stay with me." I said.  
Sam looked at me with those sad "puppy dog" eyes and slowly nodded.  
"By the way, once we get you all better; I am so going to kill you. Don't you dare try to fake your own death again!" I exclaimed.  
Sam gave me a shaky laugh. "Wouldn't have it any other way."  
He momentarily looked away from me and towards the door. His eyes grew wide. "Dean!"  
I quickly turned my head around in time to see the door slam shut and a pair of sinister black eyes looking at me through the window.


	10. Chapter 9: SLAM!

**Chapter 9: SLAM!**  
_**Sam**_

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap ! Of course this had to happen! The second Dean comes to rescue me, Charlotte shows up and traps him in here along with me. I swear, Dean and I have the worst luck ever!  
"Charlotte, I will kill you!" I exclaimed.  
"Good luck doing that in there Sammy." Charlotte said. "And with you brother having to help you stand up, I don't think you could do it from out there."  
It was true. Dean was still holding me so I wouldn't go crashing down toward the cold, stone floor. I was almost bled out. But what was worse than that was that Dean was trapped and might get killed in here. He also would have to watch me die. Sit here and watch as I bled out with nothing he could do.  
"Listen. You can take me and do whatever you want to me. Just please… Let Sammy go." Dean said. I could tell how desperate he was by his tone and I didn't like what he was saying.  
"Dean-"  
"Sam."  
"C'mon Dean, you know that I'm not making any deals with you! I've got both Winchesters, exactly what I wanted. There's nothing you could ever offer me to make this sweeter than it already is." Charlotte explained.  
I recognized the expression on Dean's face. It was the look he had when he felt like he had failed completely.  
"I will kill you, you son of a bitch!" Dean yelled.  
Charlotte had a thrilled look in her eyes as she turned away and headed back up the stairs. Once she was gone, Dean helped lower me to the ground and knelt next to me. I felt defeated and useless more than ever. My stomach was in a white-hot pain that I wished I wasn't enduring. I wanted to just die now so Dean didn't have to sit here and watch me suffer.  
"I will kill her. I will kill her!" Dean said.  
I gave him a small smile. "Yeah. Too bad I'll miss that."  
Dean looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. "Wait, what? No, no, no, no, no! You are not going to die Sammy! There's no way in hell I'm going to let you die here!"  
I looked down at my shirt. I think I'd stopped bleeding, but the amount of blood I'd already lost…  
"Dean… I'll be dead within the hour." I said slowly. "Maybe I should just stop trying to-"  
"No! You can't give up! No way Sammy, no way!" Dean exclaimed.  
"I don't want you to sit here and watch me suffer Dean. _I_ don't want to sit here and suffer." I said.  
"Well tough, you're not dying." Dean said.  
I slowly lay myself down on the stone. I looked up at the ceiling of the dungeon for a moment. It was getting darker.  
"Sam!" Dean yelled. He was shaking me.  
I hadn't even realized that my eyes were closed. I was probably on the verge of dying there. I guess that death would have been too peaceful for Sam Winchester though.  
"I'm awake Dean…" I muttered, opening my eyes slowly.  
"You better be." He said. He sounded like he was trying to be angry and commanding, but his eyes were filled with concern which made me feel really bad.  
I continued to silently stare at the ceiling.  
"You're not gonna die." Dean said to me. Usually I wouldn't have said anything back to that. Usually he said that with a tone that told me he was as much convincing himself as he was me. But this time he sounded absolutely positive.  
"How are we getting out?" I asked, knowing Dean had an idea.  
Dean took out his cell phone. "I hate getting help from police. But if we simply call 911, someone will come and get us."  
"Dean you're not thinking straight." I muttered.  
"Yes I'm thinking perfectly straight." Dean argued as he dialled one number.  
I reached over and knocked the phone out of his hands. "Dean! If we call for help, Charlotte will know and probably kill us right now. She will also kill the help that you call!"  
Dean sighed and lay down to stare at the ceiling beside me. "Any ideas Sammy?"  
"Not one…" I replied. Calling Bobby had crossed my mind, but I knew that would get Dean's hopes up that he could get me out of here alive. But Dean himself did need to get out. Maybe with my last breath I should mention that he could call Bobby to get him out. If Charlotte hadn't cut off the reception here that is.  
Dean stood up and headed towards the metal door. He started kicking it and banging on it. I sat up to watch him better. I didn't know what that would even accomplish other than get Charlotte mad.  
"Dean, what are you trying to do? Kick the door down? Because that's not happening." I informed him.  
He sighed in annoyance. "Sam, just shut up for a second, please…"  
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah sure. You just continue trying to kick that door down when you obviously can't…"  
It was Dean's turn to roll his eyes. He started to kick the door again. He did that for a few more minutes before I heard a door slam opened.  
"Dean…" I said warningly.  
Dean stopped kicking the door and looked through the window in it. "Charlotte. You let-"  
"Shut up Dean! Can you not let me celebrate that I have the Winchesters and they're both going to die!?" She exclaimed through window.  
I slowly and carefully stood up. I started to approach the door.  
"No you son of a bitch!" Dean yelled back.  
Charlotte sighed. "Dean, Dean, Dean… Do you want your brother to endure more pain before he dies?"  
He looked back at me for a second. He looked slightly shocked that I was now standing up and walking towards him. I was almost tumbling down after every tiny step.  
"No. Leave Sammy alone." Dean said. He sounded incredibly determined.  
The scene was ruined when Dean got slammed back against the stone wall. Charlotte opened the door and stared at me expectantly. I caught eye of the demon killing knife on the floor a few feet away. She hadn't taken it from Dean when he had gotten locked in here. I took one step towards the knife when I was stopped. Charlotte slammed me against a wall and I lost consciousness.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

Charlotte had slammed me hard against the stone wall and I fell to the ground. I was lying on the floor in pain for a second, but tuned back into what was going on when I heard a slam. When I focused on the scene I saw Charlotte holding the demon killing knife smiling viciously at me. I looked around for Sam and saw him unconscious beside the stone wall. I rushed over to him and immediately checked for his breathing. He was only barely still alive. I didn't know if he'd last another five minutes without any serious medical help.  
I looked over at Charlotte. Pure anger and hatred had welled up in me. I was going to kill this bitch if it was the last thing I did, which it possibly could be. She just continued smiling as she slammed me against the wall again. I stood up as quick as I could and she just rolled her eyes and slammed me against another wall. I wasn't even up when she slammed me again. She did it one more time and I was knocked unconscious.


	11. Chapter 10: Healing Process

**Chapter 10: Healing Process**  
_**Sam**_

When I gained consciousness, I felt absolutely awful. What happened?  
It all flooded back in a second. Fight. Fire. Charlotte. Trapped. Cut. Bleeding out. Slammed against the wall. Was I dead?  
I slowly opened my eyes and saw an unfamiliar area around me. I was lying on soft, green grass. It was very dark outside, the moon and stars were the only light. Maybe this was heaven. Then again, I had thought I was dead when I first awoken in Charlotte's "dungeon" and I wasn't. I might as well look around and find out.  
I sat up on the grass and felt a small pain in my stomach. I looked down at my flannel shirt which was stained with blood and had been ripped like someone had cut me; which someone had.  
But if the cut was still there and hurt, did that mean I was alive? I touched where the cut would be and was shocked. The cut was still there and mostly healed over. How?  
"Sam." A voice said.  
I whipped my head around to the voice. I knew who that was. "Cas?"  
Sure enough, the angel in the trench coat stood there. I didn't really know what to say. It seemed obvious that Castiel had just saved my life, who else would have? But why wouldn't he have just came earlier? I frowned when I remembered that Castiel was working with Crowley. Despite that, he still seemed to be wanting to help out Dean and I.  
"What happened?" I asked.  
"Dean contacted me a couple days ago and I didn't come to his assistance. That had been a bad decision on my part. I was going to aid you while you were inside the demon's house, but she seemed to have "angel-proofed" the building." Castiel explained.  
"How did you help me then?" I asked.  
"The demon left you for death in the middle of the road. I arrived just after she had retreated back into her house." Castiel answered. "Dean is still trapped in her dungeon Sam."  
I quickly stood up. "I have to go save him."  
I started walking away from the grassy area I assumed was a park. I didn't know exactly where I was going. I had no idea where Charlotte's house was, but I really didn't really want to talk to Cas.  
But Castiel appeared a couple feet in front of where I was walking. "Sam-"  
I sighed, I realized I had been rude. "Thanks Cas. Really, thank you. But I have to go save Dean."  
"Sam, you won't-" Castiel started.  
Suddenly a large pain hit my stomach and I almost doubled over.  
"You won't be fully healed for several more minutes. I can't fix severe blood loss as quickly as you may have liked." Castiel explained.  
"I don't care, Charlotte could hurt Dean!" I exclaimed.  
"Doing that would be quite an awful idea Sam. You have not been fully healed." Castiel insisted.  
Several minutes could be the difference between Dean being okay, hurt and dead. I didn't want to risk anything.  
Then again, what help would I be if I tried to creep down the stairs but doubled over and tumbled down them? I would not only hurt myself again, but Charlotte would hear me too. Then we'd both be captured again, which would get us back in the mess we started in.  
I felt incredibly guilty, but I sat back down on the grass. I was only sitting here for a few minutes. Just until I was healed a bit more.  
"Sam, about Crowley-" Castiel started, after a few moments of silence.  
"Cas, it doesn't matter right now, okay?" I interrupted.  
I slowly lay down and looked up at the stars. I thought of those nice, quiet, supernatural entity-free nights. The ones where Dean parked the Impala in the middle of nowhere and we watched the stars without saying a word to one another for hours. We didn't really need to say anything.  
I closed my eyes to stop myself from thinking about that. These "several minutes" were going to feel like forever.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

My head was seriously hurting. It felt like it had been hit against hard stone. Then I remembered, that's because it had.  
I opened my eyes and quickly sat up. I scanned the room, looking for my brother. I did a double-take when I didn't see him. My heartbeat immediately became more rapid, Sam was probably less than a minute from death when I'd been knocked unconscious.  
_Oh god Sammy…_ I thought. _Please no!_  
Where had that stupid son of a bitch taken my brother? I highly, highly doubted that she went off to go heal him. She probably…  
I could feel tears forming in my eyes. No, I didn't even want to think about what she could've done to him. It probably didn't matter, Sam would be dead with any of the possible ways. I made it a challenge to think of a case where my little brother could have made it out alive, but couldn't think of one.  
Then again, I assumed he was dead the last time. It had seemed like there was no way he could have gotten out of that fire and he still did.  
I tried to convince myself I couldn't lose all my hope until I saw Sammy's lifeless body. That was a challenge though, since I didn't want to build up the little bit of hope I had just to have it crumble down.  
"Charlotte you son of a bitch!" I yelled. "You better not have killed my brother or so help me I will…"  
I stopped myself. What exactly would I do? I was still stuck here in Charlotte's dungeon. I looked around to see if I could spot the demon killing knife, which I had with me when I was locked in here. Like Sam, I couldn't spot that either and if it was possible I felt even worse.  
I didn't know what difference it would have made if I had that knife. Maybe if I had it there would have been the slightest chance to kill Charlotte.  
I stood up and started pacing the room. I tried to clear my head of my mostly likely dead little brother. I was not going to sit down here and have tears fill my eyes. I would hold out until I saw Sam's dead body. Then, I would allow myself to be filled with the agony, pain, loss and tears if I escaped, but I wouldn't care if I did. If Sammy was dead, I didn't _want_ to get out of here alive. At least if I died I would be with my brother and not apart from him like I would be if I stayed alive.  
I wished Charlotte would just come and tell me if Sam was dead. Then I didn't have to sit here with that_ there's a 99% chance Sam's dead but there's a 1% chance he isn't!_ crap in my head.  
I suddenly remembered my phone! Charlotte had been stupid enough to let Sam keep his and he had been able to contact me. I could call Bobby and even if I didn't survive he could still kill the stupid Charlotte bitch! I reached into my pocket where I kept my phone and my heart fell even more. I didn't think I could feel much worse than I could right now. Charlotte had been smart enough to take my phone this time. I sighed, this demon wasn't going to be killed. I hoped that if I died in here, another hunter would come along and kill her before she killed tons more people.  
That's when I heard it. A loud bang from upstairs. I ran towards the huge metal door and looked through the small window in hopes of seeing what had caused it. Maybe someone had come to help and Charlotte would die sooner than later! Maybe Charlotte was still keep Sam up there. Maybe I wasn't out for too long and there was a possibility my brother could be saved.  
_Or she could have just dropped something up there…_ The hopeless part of my mind suggested.  
That suggestion was proved wrong when more bangs and crashes followed the first one. I heard the start to a bit of yelling between Charlotte and someone else. She must have been fighting with this person. Either someone had invaded her house or she had a boyfriend she had serious issues with.  
The door at the top of the stairs was flung opened, but I couldn't see the whole scene going on upstairs. The light bulb above the staircase was turned off and the only thing I could make out through the opened door were two shadowy figures. They were having a huge fight with each other. One of the figures who was shorter gained the upper hand after a minute of the fighting. She pushed the taller figure through the door and the person went tumbling down the stairs. The person was banged against the door. They had fallen pretty hard, I wouldn't be surprised if they had just gotten knocked out. The shorter figure quickly came down the stairs. She leaned down for a moment then the door to Charlotte's dungeon I was pressed up against was pushed opened quick. It smacked against me and I crashed against the wall. I was momentarily dazed as I rubbed my head. I looked over at the shorter figure dragging the taller into the room. I assumed the shorter figure was Charlotte.  
I took a step towards her and was immediately slammed against the wall by an invisible force. I hated that stupid demonic ability.  
"Don't even try that with me Dean." She warned.  
With that she turned towards the door and walked out, closing it behind her. I was immediately released from being held against the wall.  
I heard Charlotte walk up the creaky stairs. There was a pause once she had walked for a few moments and some light flooded into the room. The walking then commenced and I heard the slam of the door at the top of the stairs.  
I gazed at the unconscious person on the ground in the dungeon with me. I didn't even care that I was in an utterly horrible situation; joy and relief filled me at the sight of my little brother. How had he survived? It didn't matter at the moment.  
I went to kneel next to Sam who had a new bruise on his head from crashing into the metal door. A lot worse could have happened from crashing down those stairs though.  
"Sammy?" I said, shaking him. I hoped just doing that would wake him up but unfortunately it didn't.  
At least I would have the time my brother was unconscious to come up with a plan to get out of here.


	12. Chapter 11: Even In Death

**Chapter 11: Even in Death**  
_**Sam**_

I seriously needed to stop getting knocked out. This was the third time in the last couple days! At least this time, I knew that I was alive when I awoken.  
I was lying on a cold stone floor. Easy to guess where that might be considering Charlotte had unfortunately gotten the upper hand in our fight and knocked me down the staircase. I crashed into the huge metal door and the world had gone black. I was going to hear it about being knocked out by a girl from Dean…  
Now that I thought of Dean I assumed he was sitting somewhere nearby in the room. After I assumed that, I could basically sense his presence. That sounds a little creepy, but I just knew he was there when the thought crossed my head.  
I opened my eyes and saw the stone room again. There was only a little light in the room coming from the light bulb above the staircase.  
I turned my head to my right and saw Dean sitting a couple feet away from me. He was staring up at the ceiling and didn't seem to notice that I was awake yet.  
"Dean." I said.  
He immediately snapped his head back down to stare at me. A grin slowly spread across his face, he was obviously glad to see that I was conscious.  
"I can't believe you got beaten up by a girl." Dean stated.  
I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but smile._ I knew it…_  
I sat up from the hard stone floor.  
Dean's expression turned more serious. "Dude how did you survive?"  
My smile faded too. "That Charlotte bitch was going to just leave me on the street to die."  
Dean's expression changed into one I knew well. It was his _No one messes with my Sammy and gets away with it_ face. The one that made me both feel awkward because I wasn't a kid anymore and thankful that I had Dean to watch out for me.  
"Then Castiel teleported me away and healed me up. I was going to immediately go back for you but I needed to finish healing up for a few more minutes. Cas brought me back here, wished me good luck and I burst into the house. Charlotte got the upper hand in the fight. She was a really great fighter. Plus she has those demonic powers to slam me against things and I didn't have our knife." I explained.  
"Cas?" Dean asked, looking surprised. "Cas decided to help us after everything? I called him before I came for you and he didn't come!"  
"He did save my life though Dean…" I mentioned.  
Dean sighed. "I still don't forgive him."  
"I didn't tell you to." I pointed out.  
There was a moment of silence where I let everything sink in. I was caught and stuck down here with Dean. I didn't see anyway we were getting out of here. My heart dropped when I realized both Dean and I were going to rot and die in here unless someone like Bobby came for us. Not that he would immediately know something was wrong and come searching.  
"Dean… I'm so sorry for getting caught. Now we're both dead." I said.  
"Don't go blaming yourself. We'll find a way to get out of here." Dean told me.  
"Do you have any idea how to escape?" I asked.  
"I'm thinking. But I know after all this crap we've been through over the past couple days, there's no way we're giving up now." He answered.  
I nodded and tried to think of ways Dean and I could get out of here. We sat in silence for a few minutes while we both considered possibilities.  
"I've got it."  
Dean looked at me, a small amount of hope in his eyes. "What do we do?"

-SUPERNATURAL-

"Charlotte!" Dean yelled banging on the metal door.  
"I should be the distraction." I insisted again.  
"No." Dean said. "I'm not letting you be stuck here again. Plus this makes more sense."  
"What if I get caught again?" I asked.  
"Then I guess your plan wasn't that smart." Dean answered.  
I rolled my eyes and lay down by the door. I closed my eyes and pretended like I was unconscious.  
"Charlotte! You son of a bitch get down here!" Dean screamed again.  
"You sure she'll come?" He asked after a moment.  
"She'll get annoyed if you keep yelling." I insisted. "She did earlier."  
Dean continued to bang on the door and yell Charlotte's name. He made sure to sound arrogant and add on mean comments every couple times. After a few minutes, I heard footsteps coming down the staircase.  
"Step one: Complete." Dean and I muttered simultaneously.  
"What the hell!?" Charlotte yelled. "Would you just shut up!? I'm so sick of you two and your yelling and escaping!"  
"Then why don't you come in here and kill me huh?" Dean taunted.  
"I would prefer having you two rot in here actually." Charlotte mentioned.  
"Why? So you can hear our yelling all day? Won't that be fun?!" Dean exclaimed.  
I heard Charlotte make a low growling noise.  
"Unless your scared of me. Maybe you think I might escape or beat you in a fight!" Dean said.  
The door slammed opened. I heard footsteps and a slam against the wall.  
"You arrogant, cocky son of a bitch!" Charlotte yelled at Dean.  
I half-opened my eyes to see if it was my part of the plan. Charlotte had Dean held against the wall using her telekinetic demon powers. She wasn't looking at me lying near the door.  
I slowly and carefully started to sit up.  
"You think you're so great huh?" Charlotte asked.  
"Actually yes." Dean replied, smiling cockily.  
I knelt down and then slowly started to stand.  
"You're right! What do I have to lose?" Charlotte agreed. "I might as well just kill you now.  
I backed up as quietly as I could through the opened door of the stone room.  
"But there's a worse way to get to you isn't there Dean?" She asked.  
"I don't think you can get to me at all." Dean mentioned.  
I started backing up onto the first stair. This plan was actually working; I just needed to go upstairs quickly and quietly. Then I could find our demon killing knife and come down to kill Charlotte.  
"Oh I think there is." Charlotte said.  
I took a couple more cautious steps up the stairs.  
"Isn't that right Sammy?" She asked.  
I spun around and bolted up the stairs. I needed to get that knife!  
But I was again hit with that invisible force that sent me tumbling down the stairs again. I had fallen back really hard that time. Last time I fell I tumbled sideways and it hadn't hurt so much, the big impact was really the metal door. This time, I had fallen backwards and fell on my back at the bottom of the stairs. I moaned in pain and didn't know if I could even stand up.  
"Sammy!" Dean exclaimed.  
"You didn't seriously think you could get past me did you?" She asked.  
"Umm… Maybe." Dean answered.  
Charlotte turned from Dean and started to drag me into the room. I swatted at her with my hands as she dragged. Charlotte just took out her knife and sliced across the palm of my right hand. I sucked back air in pain and Charlotte successfully dragged me back in the dungeon. Once I was again inside, she closed the door.  
Except she was still in here with us.  
_Oh no…_ I thought. _This was an awful plan!_  
"Steven get down here!" Charlotte yelled through the door's window.  
After a moment there were footsteps down the stairs.  
"Thanks for the help." Charlotte said to whoever was standing on the door's other side. "Just hold them down for me."  
I was suddenly held down by the invisible telekinetic powers of demons to the floor. Charlotte walked over to my side and knelt down next to me.  
"I'm the one who's going to get to be cocky now." Charlotte said to Dean.  
I could barely turned my head against the force holding me down, but I could see fear in Dean's eyes as Charlotte held her knife above me. Dean couldn't do anything because he was being held against the demonic force too.  
I knew that there was nothing I could say to keep Charlotte from torturing me, but…  
"Not in front of Dean." I pleaded.  
Charlotte gave me a mischievous smile. "Oh but Sammy, that's why I'm even bothering to torture you. So I can take out my anger on both of you. If not in front of Dean, I wouldn't be doing it."  
"Then torture me!" Dean exclaimed.  
Charlotte turned to him. "No, I'd rather take it out on your little brother. That will make it more painful for you Dean."  
She knelt down next to me and held the knife above me for a moment. She seemed to be contemplating what she was going to do.  
Charlotte started by jabbing the knife into my left shoulder. My shoulder erupted with white hot pain. The knife had gone deep enough to get jabbed into my shoulder bone. I was going to try and hold my yell from the pain back, but I couldn't. That didn't exactly make Dean feel better.  
Charlotte yanked her knife from my shoulder, which made me suck back my breath in pain. She moved the knife (which was now covered in blood) over to my right arm. She started slowly slicing down my arm, cutting my jacket and shirt and hurting me intensely again. This time I managed to only let out a gasp of pain. Charlotte stopped cutting before she reached my wrist.  
She was only just getting started…

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

I didn't know how much time had passed since Sammy had started getting tortured by Charlotte. It seemed like forever. Each cry, yell or gasp of pain Sam let out made me feel worse every time. My little brother was getting tortured and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Stuck telekinetically to the wall…  
There was no pain in the world that compared to how awful I felt right now. Charlotte was right, torturing Sammy was the way to really get to me and make me feel at my lowest. He was no doubt my weak spot.  
The demon bitch seemed to be thinking of every way she could torture Sam. She stabbed as deep as his bones, cut across his arms, legs, stomach, face, palms, and feet. She was very slow each time she stabbed or cut my brother.  
Charlotte at one point started throwing punches and kicks at Sam. She gave him bruises all over. She had taken off Sam's jacket and flannel shirt, leaving him with just his white v-neck so I could get a great look at his wounds that I didn't want.  
"Sammy!" I yelled for what seemed like the millionth time in the past however-the-hell-long-it-had-been. Charlotte cut him incredibly deep in the arm and huge amounts of blood came gushing out. I couldn't stand this. I had closed my eyes a few times to stop myself from watching Sam, but Charlotte threatened to take Sam's eyes out if I did that. After all I'd seen so far, I didn't want to see Sam's eyes get taken out. I admit that staring at him getting tortured, tears streamed down my face every once and a while. I didn't care about looking tough anymore, I didn't care about anything but Sammy at the moment.  
Charlotte looked over Sam and then checked her wrists where there was a watch. "It's been an hour… That's long enough huh Dean?"  
She looked back at me and was smiling like she'd just had the time of her life.  
"Can you leave us to rot in her now then? Are you going to stop hurting my brother?" I asked.  
"No." She answered simply.  
She whipped her head back to Sam and slit his left wrist. Then she slit the other. Blood had started to flow out of them in huge amounts. I knew that it was over. Sammy was going to die.  
I couldn't stop some tears stream down my face. "Sammy!"  
Charlotte shot me another smile and I wanted nothing more than to kill the son of a bitch. She stood up and exited the dungeon. I heard her say something to Stefan or whatever his name was and I fell from where I was being telekinetically held.  
I dove down next to Sammy. I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around my brother's bleeding wrists.  
Sam's eyes were half-closed. One of his eyes was actually black.  
"Sammy…" I said softly, barely getting the word out. "You can't die…"  
He gave me a slight smile. "I wish… I could do… something about that…"  
"You can; just don't die! I'll think… I'll think of a way out of here!" I exclaimed, there was clear panic in my voice.  
"Not enough… time." Sam mumbled.  
"There has to be." I muttered, a tear falling from my eye. I was acting so weak, so vulnerable. I had never felt this bad in my life. Not after dad died, not after Sam died the first time or when he jumped into Lucifer's cage. I hadn't had to see hours of torture before those deaths. It was crazy how much seeing my brother being slowly hurt had effected me.  
"I'm… sorry Dean…" Sam said, the words barely coming out of his mouth. With that his eyes closed.  
_No, no, no!_ I checked his pulse, but I knew that Sam was no longer alive. I started shaking him like crazy, hoping that maybe he would open his sad puppy eyes again. I said his name softly over and over, then I was yelling it, but nothing would wake my brother up. He was gone…  
Tears continued to stream down my face as I looked at the lifeless form of my brother now in my arms. My vision was temporarily blinded by my tears. Everything seemed to get darker. It all seemed to fade away…  
Then the world was momentarily pitch black.


	13. Chapter 12: Revenge From he Who Suffered

**Chapter 12: Revenge From He Who Suffered**  
_**Dean**_

It was the oddest sensation. I was in Charlotte's dungeon, my brother dead in my arms, when everything started to blur. Then the whole world turned black. At first I didn't understand what was going on. Why was everything so dark?  
Suddenly I was in the Impala. How had I gotten there? I looked around. The area looked strangely familiar, but why wouldn't it? It was the parking lot of a motel. I had been to many motels over my lifetime. I didn't care at the moment about my location though, because I didn't know where my brother's dead body was. I whipped my head around wildly, but he wasn't in the car. Maybe I had just been teleported here alone. But who would have even brought me here?  
I looked back at the motel and I realized when I'd been here: It was the motel that the room Sam and I were in burned down just a couple days ago. Where I thought Sammy had died, but he was really just captured by a demon.  
I gazed over to where the room Sam and I had stayed in would have been before it got burned. That's when all the pieces came clicking together.  
The motel room wasn't burned down. It was perfectly fine. The only thing out of the ordinary right now was the fact I felt pretty tired. Like how you do when you get up in the morning…  
The whole experience with Charlotte had been just a dream! That meant…  
I opened the door to the Impala and quickly shut and locked it. I basically sprinted to the motel room where Sam and I had been staying in. Where I hoped Sam was right now…  
I banged on the door. "Sammy!"  
It was weird. The whole experience was just a dream, but it had felt so real. So real that the impact of it made me want to immediately stop fighting with Sam and get the hell out of this town. Maybe to that case Sam had thought he'd found.  
After what seemed like forever the door opened. My brother stood in the room, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans. The same he had been wearing earlier that… day? It felt like it had been forever ago. Almost like time had passed in that dream.  
Before saying a word, I took a step towards Sammy and wrapped him in a hug. I was so thankful he was alive. I thought that Sam would probably be confused and shocked by my sudden forgiveness and the random hug. Instead he hugged me too.  
After a moment we removed our arms from around each other and both took a step back.  
Sam looked relieved, but I wasn't too sure why. We had been in a huge fight the last that I left him besides in that dream. Maybe he regretted it or had a weird dream too. No way he could have had one as weird as mine though…  
"Dean, what happened?!" Sam exclaimed.  
I frowned. "What do you mean? The fight? I don't know, it was pretty stupid though."  
"No, no, no!" Sam said quickly. "That weird… I don't know what it was; a dream? It was probably just me who had it, but I feel like you were really there, like you know about it too. There was this demon named-"  
"Charlotte." I finished. "And we were both captured in her dungeon and then you…"  
Sam's face darkened. "Got tortured and died."  
"If it was a dream, then why did we both have it?" I asked. "It's not like that _Titanic_ thing is it? That didn't actually happen right?"  
"Yes and no." A voice answered.  
Sam's eyes slightly widened and I spun around to see the source of the voice.  
"Cas, what are you doing here?" I asked.  
"I have to explain something to you." He replied.

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Sam**_  
_**A couple minutes ago…**_

My brain hurt. Actually, my whole body felt completely numb. Like I had been getting over several serious injuries. That's probably because I had.  
I had been tortured by Charlotte. I… Did I die? I was 99.9% positive I died. But it seemed that over the past while, I didn't know whether I was dead or alive half the time.  
I yawned. The kind of yawn you have when you just wake up in the morning. That's when I decided to find out where I was. I was lying on a uncomfortable bed which meant that I had to be in a motel.  
I sat up and looked around the familiar area. This was the motel room that had burned down. Was I living my memory of this place in heaven? Maybe it was hell; since this place held nothing good.  
Somehow though, I didn't think I was dead. There was this strange idea in my head that the whole problem with the fire and Charlotte hadn't even happened. That the whole thing had just been a dream. Now that the thought came to me, I was almost sure that it had been a dream. But my gut feeling made no sense, the dream had felt too real.  
Before I had time to ponder on it further, there was banging on the motel room door. Then I heard a familiar voice, "Sammy!"  
_Dean._ It seemed like this had all been a dream. Dean and I were still in that fight. But if so, why would he be coming to the door? I didn't really care.  
I quickly got off the bed and sprinted to the door. I pulled it opened and saw my brother standing there. His expression looked extremely relieved when he saw me. That's when he surprised me; Dean pulled me in for a hug. After a moment of getting over how relieved that made me feel, I hugged him too. When we pulled away and took a step back I felt more relieved then ever.  
Dean and I weren't fighting. We were completely normal. Why did he forgive me? It seemed strange to even think the idea, but maybe Dean had the same dream as me. The dream that had felt so real. Now that I thought of it, it was so real that maybe it wasn't a dream…  
"Dean, what happened?!" I ended up exclaiming.  
He frowned. "What do you mean? The fight? I don't know, it was pretty stupid though."  
Did this mean that my idea was just stupid and it wasn't a dream? My head was so mixed up right now.  
"No, no, no! That weird…" I didn't know how to continue. "I don't know what it was; a dream? It was probably just me who had it, but I feel like you were really there, like you know about it too. There was this demon named-"  
"Charlotte." Dean finished. So it hadn't been just me… "And we were both captured in her dungeon and then you…"  
I felt like the room had dropped twenty degrees. "Got tortured and died."  
"If it was a dream, then why did we both have it?" Dean asked. "It's not like that _Titanic_ thing is it? That didn't actually happen right?"  
Dean thought it was a dream. Maybe that's what it had been. But then-  
I noticed the trench coated angel a millisecond before he spoke. "Yes and no."  
I felt my eyes widening. I was going to ask him what he was talking about, but I couldn't seem to get words out.  
"Cas, what are you doing here?" Dean asked, after turning around to see the angel.  
"I have to explain something to you." Castiel replied.  
He walked right past Dean and into the room. He walked past me and stood in the middle of the room by the end of the beds. Dean walked into the room and closed the door behind him. We both walked over to where Castiel was standing.  
It took me a moment to find my voice. "Is this real? Am I alive?"  
That's the first thing I needed to know. For all I knew this could be some weird heaven or hell.  
I was mostly staring at Cas, but at the corner of my eyes I saw Dean's expression. He looked sad and hurt that I asked that question. I almost wished I hadn't said it so Dean didn't have to regard me like I was a sad, lost puppy.  
"Yes Sam. This is very real and you are alive." He replied.  
I didn't know whether to be relieved or confused. If I hadn't died then what the hell had happened?  
"Then what was that? Was it a dream? Was it an altered timeline you allowed us to remember?" I asked.  
Castiel seemed to consider how to answer the questions. "They were similar to dreams. It was almost like you were living a timeline inside your head."  
"And you feel pain in these timelines?" I asked.  
Dean started to say something, but I was just paying attention to Castiel's answer. "The wounds do not appear when you wake up from these timelines. It was as though you felt all the pain, but no wounds appeared and nothing happened to your body."  
"And who made us live through that hell?!" Dean yelled angrily.  
I looked over at my brother who looked furious. But when he saw me staring his expression softened and turned pained.  
"I am the one." Castiel said.  
Dean and I broke eye contact and glanced over at an ashamed looking Castiel.  
"What!?" Dean screamed.  
"Charlotte is a very real demon. That is how your lives would have gone if I would not have captured her. Dean listen, I allowed you to live through that because-"  
"I don't want to hear it Cas!" Dean exclaimed. "How could you make us live through that?"  
I honestly couldn't believe Castiel had done that to Dean and I. It was barely even a dream, more like a reality in our heads, one we could feel. All that torture that I endured and remembered...  
It wasn't good to think Cas had really gotten this bad, but that was what had happened. I looked down and couldn't stop staring at my feet.  
"Sam-" Cas started to say, when I looked down.  
"Shut up Cas!" Dean said. "We don't want to hear your crap! Please just get out of here."  
"There is one other thing Dean." Castiel said.  
"I don't care!"  
"Do you not want revenge on Charlotte?"  
"What?"  
"Had I not stopped her, that is exactly what she would have done. Exactly how things would have played out. I stopped her by capturing her. I did not immediately kill her because I knew you would be keen on killing her yourself." Castiel explained.  
I looked up to see Dean's reaction to that. There was sudden determination in his eyes. He really wanted to kill Charlotte for torturing me. Even though she technically hadn't done it yet. There was also a lot of anger and pain in his eyes. That was about the most powerful dream ever. Now, it was almost as though the fight we had never happened. That was technically where we had left off here, but we ignored that fact like it hadn't been.  
"I can take you to where I have her locked down in a devil's trap." Castiel said.  
Dean took a deep breath. "Take us there. I have to kill that son of a bitch."

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Dean**_

I looked around the darkened room Castiel brought us to and I recognized it immediately. It was Charlotte's dungeon. The only thing different about it now was that there was a devil's trap drawn on the stone floor. Charlotte was tied to a table in the middle of the room. It was actually a literal long, rectangular, wooden table.  
"Why is she tied to a wooden dining table?" I asked Castiel.  
"It was in her kitchen, making it easy to obtain. I did not have to search for anything when I discovered the table. I think it is an appropriate thing to be tied to." Castiel replied.  
"OH shut up! Why am I here?! I don't know anything about whatever your problem is!" Charlotte yelled.  
I approached her slowly. "No. This is all just revenge bitch."  
"Revenge? But I never did anything to you!" She protested.  
"Maybe not yet. But you were going to. You were going to kill Sam and I; attempt to burn us down." I said.  
She rolled her eyes. "Maybe I was, but I was just going to settle for Sammy since you two were fighting."  
"It's a long story which I'm definitely not telling you, but you would have ended up letting Sam live. Captured him, captured me too, then Sam would have died after you tortured him." I explained. "Now you're going to pay."  
"What?! You can't torture me for something that never happened!" Charlotte exclaimed.  
"Actually I can." I said. "And by the way, it almost felt like it did happen."  
I took out the demon killing knife and waved it by Charlotte's face. There was so many way I wanted this bitch to suffer. But first…  
"You want to take the first whack at her Sammy?" I asked, turning around to face him.  
Sam looked surprised, he also look uncomfortable to be standing in this room. Most people wouldn't have noticed how much he hated being here, but I wasn't most people.  
I sighed. "Sam can I talk to you for a minute?"  
He nodded and the two of us headed up the stairs and into Charlotte's house. Castiel stayed down there and stared at Charlotte.  
"Dude, are you… are you okay?" I asked.  
Sam stared at me for a moment. "Honestly… I don't know. I mean, my whole body feels numb like I'd be kicked around and that torture was hell, but I'm physically fine now. We can also kill this son of a bitch, which is really great. I think… I think I'm alright. But are you okay Dean? You look like someone killed your puppy."  
I stared at him seriously. "That's because someone did! Charlotte did!"  
Sam looked taken aback by that comment. "Dean, I'm not your puppy."  
"I'll believe it when you stop using those sad, convincing eyes." I said.  
My brother gave me a small smile.  
"She killed you Sam. Maybe it wasn't completely real, but I watched you get tortured and you actually endured pain. I _watched_ you and those awful images are burned into my mind." I told Sammy.  
"You know that it's fine now. Stop dwelling on the past, you won't be able to get over this if you don't." Sam said.  
I sighed, that was one of my problems. I dwelled too much on past things. "Okay. For now, I'm killing Charlotte. You want to watch?"  
Sam looked back at the door that led downstairs to Charlotte's dungeon. "I think I'll pass, but enjoy torturing her."  
Sam smiled, and I ended up frowning. "You know, maybe I won't bother. As much as the bitch deserves long, awful torture there's still the matter of the girl she's possessing. Plus, I don't really want to use those torturing skills either. Then there's the fact I would be happy to never see someone get tortured ever again…"  
"That's a good point, yeah." Sam mentioned. "We can probably exorcise this girl and she can live. We already have her down in a devil's trap."  
I almost didn't want to let the girl live. To have that face walk around the world and be kind seeming like that face hadn't killed my brother with a smile.  
Still I nodded and we headed back downstairs together.  
I took a couple steps towards Charlotte and started to recite the exorcism.  
"Stop! You'll kill the girl! I'm the only thing still keeping her alive!" Charlotte exclaimed.  
I exchanged a look with Sam and made a decision. I held the demon killing knife over Charlotte and stabbed her in the stomach. Even after I knew she was dead, I left it there for a minute just because it satisfied me to see her with a knife in her stomach.  
"Now it's over." I said, pulling out the knife and wiping off the blood with the arm of my jacket. Once I had the knife away, I turned to Sam and smiled. He returned the smile, looking relieved.  
"Would you like me to return you back to the town you were previously in?" Castiel asked.  
I was going to blurt no because that's where that stupid motel was when I changed my mind. My car was still there and the rest of the stuff Sam and I owned. "I guess."

-SUPERNATURAL-  
_**Sam**_

Dean told Cas to get lost the second we returned to our motel room. Castiel looked almost disappointed, but neither Dean or I wanted him around after this. Even though Castiel was working with Crowley and it almost seemed like he was betraying us, I never thought he wanted to conflict pain on us.  
"Let's get out of this town." Dean said. "Why don't you look up more details of that thing you thought might have been a case."  
"I think maybe we should just head back to Bobby's. We have to find a way to stop Cas and Crowley, we probably shouldn't be case chasing at the moment." I told Dean.  
I felt like I should comfort Dean more. He kept giving me empathetic looks after we had woken up. Honestly, that tortured had been absolutely awful, but it really got me thinking. That was bad enough; how bad had my experience in hell been? Probably a million times worse. I barely wanted to remember the torture Charlotte had put me through, I couldn't imagine how I would feel if I remembered how Lucifer had tortured me. I tried not to think of this, since Dean would kill me if he knew because he was worried my wall would break down. I almost couldn't help it though.  
I was about to start gathering what I had in the room when I noticed something on the table. I approached it and realized there was a note beginning with _Sam and Dean,_ on there. I looked to the bottom of the note and saw that it was from Castiel. I was going to crumple it up and trash it when I read a few of the words and changed my mind. No matter what was written here, I wouldn't forgive Cas, but I wanted to know what was on this.  
"Dean; Cas left us a note." I said.  
"Of course he did! We didn't let him speak. Trash that Sammy." Dean told me.  
"I won't forgive him either Dean, but this must be important." I mentioned. "I'm reading it."  
Dean sighed, but came to stand next to me so he could see the note too.


	14. Epilogue: You Should have Each Other

**Epilogue: You Should Have Each Other**

_Sam and Dean,_  
_I must explain to you why I gave you those dreams. I actually made those up myself through experimentation. There could have been a million different ways those could have gone, the majority of them did not include Sam's torture. Everything turned out as it did because of the decisions you made in that timeline within your heads._  
_I made the decision of when to stop the timeline though. I waited until after Sam's death because I wanted them to have a big impact when you awoken. _  
_I didn't know my creation had turned out wrong. I didn't intend on you to actually feel the pain Sam. I didn't know that would happen and I am sorry. I know sorry won't make up for it, but I feel that it is necessary to say. _  
_When I gave you those dreams, I had good intentions. I oversaw the fight the two of you had. I found that it was quite fierce and I didn't like that it was pulling you apart from each other. I wanted to give you dreams with a big enough impact for you to forgive each other. When I found the demon Charlotte preparing to burn down the motel room Sam had been sleeping in, I put a stop to her actions. I then decided that if Charlotte would have succeeded in her plan, it would have a huge impact on Dean. That is what gave me the idea of creating these timelines within your heads. They were made to feel vivid and real, like it was almost happening, but still be only a dream. I accidentally made the dreams feel too real._  
_I again only wanted you to feel sadness from the dreams and worry about what would happen if one of you had been killed during that fight. Sam and Dean, you used to be very close with me and I learned something about you during our friendship: you are closer to each other than any humans I have ever seen. Separated you would not be as good as you would be while with each other. _  
_I suppose that I thought that if you no longer have me as a friend, you should still have each other no matter what situation life places you in._  
_Again, I am sorry for my actions, _  
_Castiel_

Sam and Dean looked at each other after reading Castiel's letter. They had a silent conversation with each other. They still didn't forgive Cas for anything he had done, but they almost understood why he gave them those dreams. Without them, who knew how long it would have taken the two of them to get over that fight. The dream probably wouldn't keep them from fighting again, but they would always remember them.  
They agreed with something Castiel had written in his letter: no matter what, they should have each other. Where would they be without each other? Who would they be without each other? The fight had been so dumb and it was a good thing the two of them were over it.  
All their problems were far from over. Who knew what else would happen to Sam and Dean from this point on. They still had to stop Castiel and Crowley, and after that all the other monsters in the world. But they would try their hardest to do it together. To keep their bond strong through any situation that may come.

**_The End._**  
**_May Sam and Dean's brotherly bond live on forever._**


End file.
